Breast cancer linked to virus

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Researchers have established a link between a common virus and breast cancer in women younger than 40.

Women who have the virus in early adulthood are 1.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer before 40, the study found.

The virus, known as cytomegalovirus (CMV), has glandular fever-like symptoms in adults, but children who have the virus usually do not get any symptoms and are often unaware they have it.

The virus is more prevalent in children in countries with a lower incidence of breast cancer, particularly throughout Asia.

The researchers, at Melbourne University and Otago University, in New Zealand, analysed 377 blood samples from 208 women who had breast cancer and 169 who did not have breast cancer.

Melbourne University Centre for Genetic Epidemiology director John Hopper said women exposed to CMV in early adulthood were 1.5 times more likely to develop breast cancer before 40. But early exposure to the virus in childhood may not have any impact.

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"The CMV infection in adult life may play a role in some cells acquiring one or more of the genetic mutations required for the development of breast cancer," Professor Hopper said.

Forty per cent of the women in the study had no CMV antibodies, which suggests they had not had the virus as adults. But 60 per cent did have CMV antibodies, suggesting they were exposed to the virus as adults.